Furniture chain improves supply chain visibility

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2018Source: Chain Store Age

The key to omnichannel success is visibility — both internally with business partners, and externally among customers.

This is a complicated task for a company like Nebraska Furniture Mart that manages more than 650,000 available SKUs (stockkeeping units) across multiple channels including in-store, online and over the phone. Besides managing this vast assortment, the chain continues to grow its portfolio by nearly 25% each year and expand into new territories — factors that are increasing lead times for products sourced from around the world.

Eager to streamline customers’ access to merchandise and streamline deliveries, Nebraska Furniture Mart needed to improve its forecast accuracy and drive better end-to-end visibility. By adding a platform from Logility, the chain now has advanced planning and execution capabilities, and supports visibility into the status of its inventory, partners, vendors and worldwide freight operations.

Integrated advanced analytics enable the supply chain team to identify and resolve potential issues before they become problems, keeping the focus on strategic opportunities that drive the business forward.

“Our customers look to Nebraska Furniture Mart to provide a wide selection of products and excellent customer service at a fair price,” said Scott Hansen, general manager-supply chain/logistics, Nebraska Furniture Mart. “The integrated supply chain planning and execution solution has helped bring all departments together onto a single platform to communicate in a common language. The bottom line, we have achieved more effective inventory investments and better customer service.”